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The measures of three millennia of Chinese administration, from the cun to the li. Part of the Ancient Measures collection.
Every unit converts through meters on the modern standard: chi = 1/3 m exactly, cun = chi/10, zhang = 10 chi, li = 1800 chi. Worked example: the Great Wall’s oft-quoted “10,000 li” (wanli changcheng) = 10,000 × 500 = 5,000,000 m — “ten thousand” meaning ‘countless’, not a survey. Before the 1929 reform the chi ran 23–32 cm by dynasty — the converter uses the modern standard and the article traces the drift.
Today exactly 1/3 m (33.3 cm). Historically it wandered: ~23 cm under the Zhou and Han, ~30 cm under the Tang, ~32 cm under the Ming and Qing. Every dynasty re-measured the world.
Qin Shi Huang (221 BC) imposed one system of weights, measures and axle-widths across the warring states — the bronze standard weights survive. It is the oldest state standardization we can hold in our hands.
500 m since 1929 — half a kilometer. The old li was 180 zhang (~576 m in Qing measure); the reform rounded the empire to metric.
Chinese Weight Chinese Volume Japanese Length Roman Length Greek Length